Vegetarian Diet? Vegan Diet? Flexitarian Diet? What suits you?

Welcome. This is a place where you can read about vegetarian diets and vegan diets.

You may begin with the basics. From there, perhaps you'll find an area or two of specific interest to explore.

If you're already familiar with the basic information, perhaps you'll find the way to begin transitioning your diet with an interesting next step.

And if you are already experienced in all things vegetarian and/or vegan, you may want to contribute a helpful hint or favorite recipe.

Curious about meat-free diets?

I'll answer many of your questions.

My goal is to give information to anyone interested in what you eat on a vegetarian diet, what to feed a vegetarian guest, and what to do to keep your mixed vegetarian/non-vegetarian relationship strong.

Those are examples of some pretty wide-ranging topics I'm going to cover. And please, if you have specific questions, ask. If I don't know the answer, I'll direct you toward a site or book

You really won't find judgment here.

You will receive encouragement to become better informed about healthier dietary decisions. I won't argue with your preferences although I may encourage different choices.

The information on the site speaks for getting the basics in a clear way that allows each reader to choose his or her personal best.

Below, I've listed types of vegetarian diets including vegan diets with brief descriptions. I'll begin with the most general term or types.

Food related Vegetarians

Regular vegetarians eat whatever they want as long as the animal, fowl, or fish/sea life didn't have to die to be eaten as food. Food choices may be related, or totally unrelated, to health.

Vegans are sometimes called strict vegetarians. There is, however, an essential difference.

Strict vegetarian usually focused on health and wellness issues. They do abstain from eating animal products, saturated fats including milk and eggs. These dietary adjustments are generally for health purposes including diabetes, heart disease, obesity and numerous other ailments. Animal rights or welfare or environmental issues are generally not a consideration in dietary choice.

Vegans follow a strict plant-based diet. However, the term vegan is broader than the food that one eats.

Vegans believe in a way of life that does as little harm as possible to creatures and the environment. They do not wear leather or wool or silk.

Vegans respect the environment. Some vegans are animal activists. Their perspective is well documented on numerous websites and there are many books on the topic as well.

Simply stated, vegans believe in animal rights and that the obligation of humanity is to protect and respect all living creatures. Vegans oppose factory farms because they believe animals are subjected to inhumane treatment and that the farms are responsible for pollution of air and water.

From the global perspective, vegans maintain that there is adequate food for all and give statistics re grain and water consumption dedicated to raising animals for food versus raising the same food and using the same amount of water for human consumption.